Belt or other buckle



P. A. HORRAS.

BELT OR OTHER BUCKLE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 12. 1921.

Patented May 2,1922.

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' BELT OR; OTHER BUCKLE.

' .ed' a certain new and useful Improvement in Belt or Other' Buckles, of whichthe following is a specification. V 1 1 This invention contemplates abelt of; non

elastic material, such as an ordinary leather belt, having a yielding buckle, or: a buckle whichcan stretch, such'as one, formed from a coil spring,whereby the belt as a whole can stretch'on the wearer, and thus automatically adjust itselfto the waist.

To these and other useful ends, the inventionconsists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed, and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the buckle and front portion of a belt embodying the principles of the invention.

Figure 2 is a rear or inside view of the structure shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal horizontal section.

Figure 4: is a vertical section on llne 4 l in Figure 3.

As thus illustrated, the invention. comprises a strap 1 having holes 2 therein, in the usual manner, said strap being of leather or any other non-elastic material. Holes 3 are also provided as shown. The buckle comprises a helical tension spring a of steel wire, or other suitable resilient material,

having one end thereof attached at 5 to the holes 3 in one end portion of the belt, and having its other end provided with a hook or tongue 6 to engagethe holes 2 previously mentioned. In this way the springis not a compression spring, and is normally as short as possible, but sustains a lengthwise pull or tension strain to permit loosening of the belt on the wearer, and contracts to tighten the belt. tened, as shown, to form a flat buckle through which the surplus end portion of the belt is inserted, as shown, whereby said buckle not only connects together the two end portions of the belt, but also takes the place of the ordinary loops usually found on a belt. The spring connection thus'provided between the two end portlons of the belt is adapted to stretch or yield, and thus.

permit the belt as a whole to stretch on the wearer. In this way the belt can automatlcally contract or expand and accommodate or adjust itself to the waist, so that it will I Speeificationef Letters Patent- Pat ymd Application filed February 12, 1921. SeriaLNo. 444,344.

HORRAS, of I Said spiral spring is flatareas orr cs.

rerun A. HORRAS, or onroeeo, rumors.

May 2, 1922.

always fit snugly, but also comfort Thus the non-elastic-belt strap gives substantially the samev effect as one made of elastic material. The advantages, however, of incorporating the elasticity in the buckle, are that-strong material, such as leatheryrjan be. used for the. strap, and that thejbuckle, although elastic or yielding, can

be made of'resilient metal which willprao tically, never wear out or become weakened by use. 7 Thus the tension spring-is adapted,

to'yieldingly buckle the two end portions of the belt together, and is attractive in appealance, lVhile the buckle is shown on a belt,

it is obvious that it'can be used for other purposes. I 1

'llhus'it will be seen that the flat helical spring has the convolutions thereof formed tight together and is adapted to serve in place of an ordinary buckle, such as an ordinary belt buckle, or in any situation requiring the ready coupling and uncoupling of two ends of a strap, by means of the usual series of holes in one end portion of the strap. The device, therefore, is not only a spring which contracts to automatically tighten the belt, or which lengthens to increase the girth of the belt, but is also in itself a'buckling.device -that is to say, it is not merely a resilient or spring connection, nor is it merely some portion of a buckle belt buckle itself, the spring alone being adapted and designed to serve primarily as a buckle, and secondarily as a yielding con nection in the belt to make the latter more comfortable around the waist of the wearer. I The convolutions being tight together, or

approximately so, it follows that the spring must lengthen or stretch to increase the circumference of the belt when on the wearer, and must contract or shorten of its own accord, and by reason of its own tension or resiliency to automatically tighten the belt yield enough forbut to the contrary the device is the entire gether, attached-to one end portion of the the belt together, forming a front buckle for the belt, so that the belt; as a Whole can stretch only at the front thereof on the wearer, and whereby the belt istightened.

by contraction of said buckle, said buckle comprising a substantially vfiat'coil spring having the convolutions thereof tight tobelt, and having means to detachably engage the lusual holes in the other end 'portion when the latter is inserted through the I flattened spiral, so that the convolutions' x-thereof form a spring buckle connection between saidend portionsof the belt, and

whereby expansion of the beltiaround the waist of the wearer serves tolengthen the" spring, whileby contraction of the spring the belt is automatically tightened. I

2; A belt of nonelastic material; and resilient 'means adapted to" stretch and yieldingly buckle the tWo'front end portions of: the belttogether, forminga front buckle'for I the belt, so that the belt as a whole can jconvolutions there'ofiorined tight togetherand having attaching ends thereof. i

' 4. A, buckle as specified in claim 2, said resilient means beingiorined from wire and havin one end portion thereof bent to extendt rough upper and lower openings in one end portion ofthe belt, the other end means at the opposite of said resilient means being provided with 40 V series of holes in the belt.

' PETER A. no-nnAs.

an out-turned end portion for engaging said 

